Chapter 38: Mana Binding
However, those types of mana aren't considered pure yet, as it is mixed with the impurities from the source. But by separating the mana from the rest and doing a simple cleansing process to remove the impurities, one would eventually be able to get a somewhat pure form of mana called White Mana.
Just like with items, mana is also separated into different levels. The lighter its color, the weaker it is. Similarly, the darker the color, the stronger the mana is.
A White Mana is considered the weakest form of pure mana. It is simply a condensation of mana from the surroundings or from a low-quality source that hasn't undergone a longer process to condense its energy into a much stronger and purer state.
From White Mana, there's the Green Mana, Blue Mana, Purple Mana, Red Mana, and then the strongest form of mana, the Black Mana.
The method to get a better and higher quality mana depends on the quality of the source. One such example is from the Merchant Union, where the mana felt like all of the toxins in their bodies had disappeared. That was the benefit of a Green Mana.
A source could come in many different forms. It could be from a high-quality material like a plant, a mana condense ore called Mana Stone, by consuming a magic potion, performing a magical cultivation technique to gather mana, or from engraving a mana gathering formation that collects and condenses the mana from a bunch of items or the surroundings.
At this moment, Kael's method was the simplest of all. He would only perform a basic cultivation technique that he learned in his first life to gather mana from his surroundings, then cleanse it to form White Mana.
It's impossible for his body right now to condense mana, since his soul is very weak to hold them all together. He'll have to let his soul get nourished by a huge amount of mana first before it can handle a larger quantity and high-quality mana.
"Let's begin!" Kael exclaimed inwardly.
Extending his soul outside of his body, Kael was soon able to get a much clearer sense and vision of the mana around him.
His soul was still connected to his body, but a part of it was now able to extend outside of his physical form.
Waving the hand of his soul around, he could feel it slightly pulling the mana towards his spirit.
"My memory is familiar with this feeling, but my body is still trying to adapt to it. This is worse than I thought," Kael muttered in disappointment.
He initially thought that just having a memory of this technique would be more than enough to pull it off easily. Turns out he was seriously mistaken.
Fortunately, all he has to do is gather mana.
Waving his hands once more, he grabbed a handful of mana in front of him.
"This should be enough for four people, I guess…" Kael wasn't even able to finish his line when he started to notice the mana slowly slipping out of his grip. "As expected,"
Since his soul wasn't fully accustomed yet to mana, and this was the first time for his body to link to his soul, as a result, he could barely materialize a spirit. Meaning, he could hardly interact with mana.
He somewhat expected this already since he had witnessed people who just entered Avalon trying to immediately start manipulating mana. In most cases, they ended in disgrace.
His situation was a lot better, though, since he could at least materialize his spirit. The majority of people couldn't even do that.
"Let's just do the simplest method." Kael finally decided to stop experimenting and just be done with the mana binding.
Pushing his hand forward, Kael pushed the handful of mana straight to the mind of the closest beastman slave.
"Argh!" The beastman softly grunted as he felt a soft force hitting his head.
Pulling his hand away, Kael once again pushed a handful of mana to the heart of the same beastman slave.
Once again, the beastman released a soft grunt.
In the next moment, two threads of light appeared to wiggle out from the location of the brain and the heart.
Kael understood what to do next. So, without wasting any time, he grabbed the two threads, connected them, and then inserted the connection into his soul.
*Whoosh!
A muffled wind erupted from Kael's soul as a waving white-colored thread soon appeared in front of him to connect him with the beastman slave.
On the opposite end of the thread, he saw the beastman gritting his teeth in agony, as if some invasive energy had seized control of his entire body, flooding him with an unexplainable pain like countless needles piercing into him at once.
"It's done!" Kael sighs in relief. He was truly grateful that nothing went wrong during the process.
To tell the truth, slaves were obligated not to resist the mana that had been inserted in their brain and heart. If they do, they'd be condemned for the crime of resisting and disrespecting their master and employer, thus facing the consequences of either death or suffering painful discipline, depending on the level of damage.
Suppose they did resist his attempt at mana binding, it would be very easy for them to break this sort of connection. One simply has to interact with it with their own mana to cut off its link. If that happens, he would be the one to suffer the consequences of an attack on his soul. That kind of attack is the deadliest because damage to the soul implies damage to one's future potential. And there's hardly any means to heal a damaged soul, and most of those solutions require a high-quality item that is so difficult to find in Avalon.
Having finished with one of the slaves, Kael quickly proceeded with the other three beastman slaves.
It took him close to twenty minutes to finish binding all four slaves with his mana. During that time, he had to rest every five minutes, otherwise his soul wouldn't be able to handle the brunt of trying to manipulate mana with a soul that hadn't fully adapted to it yet.
"That took a while," Edward could see that Kael was still inexperienced in manipulating mana. But he decided to patiently wait instead of hurrying the latter.
"You should hurry up and go before those people's patience completely runs out." Edward nodded his head to one of his men on standby at a tree root close to his podium. "We've already prepared a way for your group to safely leave this place."
"Thank you!" Kael gladly accepted.
Edward's henchmen opened a small pathway on the root. "Follow this path. It will lead you back to the surface."
Kael nodded his head before leading everyone inside the tunnel.
As soon as Kael's group left, a bunch of merchants immediately arrived in front of Edward's podium.
"What are you doing, Edward?!"
"I'm selling my products, what else do you think I'm doing?" Edward shrugged his shoulders.
"We had a deal!"
The deal they were referring to was for the black market merchant not to touch Edward's men as long as they only protect his product. In exchange, he will not sell any of his products for an entire year. After a year, he would be free to sell his products however he wants to sell them, and they will not hinder him any longer.
This deal might seem beneficial for Edward, but the truth is, with Edward having already spent most of his savings, there's no way he'll be able to survive for a year.
"And I need to earn a profit! Are you the one paying for my products and men?"
"You broke our deal, Edward!"
"Where do you think we are? This place doesn't have any rules. You made sure it stays that way!"
"Now, your men are surely going to pay for this!"
"I've already considered that fact. So they're not worried, right, everyone?" Edward looks at his henchmen.
"That's right!"
"Good luck coming to us!"
All of Edward's henchmen burst into a laugh of confidence.
"Us?"
"The only reason you could threaten my guards was that they live far away from one another. But what if I find a way to change that situation?" Edward smirked.
These merchants could send their henchmen confidently because they knew the fight would be one against many. Naturally, in that kind of situation, his guards would comply with their threats. After all, there's no way they could defeat so many guards alone, especially those guards who are living with their families. There's no way they'll risk their families for a mere job.
"You…!"
"They're living with me now! If you dare to touch me through underhanded means, then you'll have to face the consequences from the Merchant Union and the Sylvaris Kingdom!" Edward gave them a deadly stare.
The Merchant Union enforced a strict rule that even the black market was not exempt from. When two merchants clashed, their battles could only be fought through economic strategy. If a merchant attempted to kill another, especially within a kingdom's territory, and sufficient proof was found, their merchant license would be revoked, and they would face condemnation from the Royal Family for violating their law.
Killing might be common in the Sylvaris Kingdom, or any place around Avalon, but there's still a strict law that all kingdoms have agreed together, which is to forbid people from just killing anyone anytime they want, especially inside their own territories. Life is still considered precious in this world.